Limited cloning?

Some have speculated[1] whether it would be possible on the basis of these discoveries to grow not an entire human being, but living organs from cells. This might have certain potential to treat diseased organs or malfunctioning body processes. There would be many practical questions to answer, but it might be less of a problem ethically.

One ethical point would be that it would only be done only for the benefit of the individual involved, or, with appropriate informed consent, a close relative. Perhaps the biggest ethical problem would be that of "gradualism". By a progression of small steps you could eventually provide all the conditions needed to clone the conditions needed to clone the entire human being. This raises a much deeper question about how the direction of research is determined and controlled.

What do you do with a Genie out of the Bottle?

It is impossible to reverse knowledge, but it is society's prerogative[2] to state which pieces of knowledge should remain unused -"can do" never implies "must do". It is rightly illegal to clone a human being in the UK, but it would not be beyond human perversity for someone to try to do it elsewhere in the world. One UK doctor, who has publicly condemned the very idea, claims to have had people offering themselves for cloning or asking to have it done to loved ones. It would appear that some are attracted by the idea, but maybe they have not fully understood the implications. Even supposing someone would be stupid enough to try, there are many serious obstacles to be overcome. There is firstly the risk of imprisonment. A scientist would take the risk of ostracism from a disapproving medical and scientific establishment, and know that journal would possibly refuse to publish any paper on the subject. Then he or she would have to persuade or induce dozens of people to take part in prolonged illegal experiments. It would need donors, egg cell recipients and surrogate[3] mothers in fairly large numbers, to take part in experiments. Abnormally large progeny have resulted in animal cloning done to date, which suggests that there are serious risks to the health of the mother and any potential embryo.

In order to prevent the genie from coming out of the bottle, there should be immediate moves to set up, if possible, an internationally binding treaty to an experiments regarding human cloning worldwide.